Chapter 266: Contribution, Rewards, And Development Structure
The first arrivals were only the beginning.
Once Aurelian stepped down from the platform, the reception hall returned almost immediately to movement.
The applause faded, the terminals lit up again, the screening officers resumed their work, and the first groups were guided toward their assigned corridors in neat lines.
Engineers went one way, medical staff another, and administrators were directed toward a temporary command office where Astercourt had already prepared enough instructions to make even trained officials look cautious.
Aurelian watched it all for a while without speaking.
There was something strange about seeing so many people arrive in a place that had once felt almost painfully thin.
Larkspur Haven had always had people, of course, but after the plague and the invasion, everything had felt stretched.
Every worker mattered. Every medic was overloaded. Every security patrol was too small for the area it had to cover.
Now, March was receiving help in numbers large enough to change the world’s rhythm.
That did not mean the problems were solved.
It only meant they had become larger and more complicated.
Astercourt approached him once the first group cleared the hall. She still carried two terminals, though Aurelian suspected she had more nearby.
"The speech was acceptable."
Aurelian looked at her. "That is the highest praise I’ve received all day."
"It should be. I’m very selective."
Eirenne’s projection appeared beside them, clearly amused but polite enough not to say so directly.
Astra stood behind Aurelian, looking over the hall with quiet attention.
Astercourt continued, "The first landing group is manageable. The second will be more troublesome because it includes several branch administrative teams, and branch administrators tend to think their old habits are traditions rather than delays."
"I’ll speak to Orvain if they cause trouble."
"You may need to speak loudly."
"That can be arranged."
Astercourt looked somewhat satisfied with that answer.
Eirenne raised one hand, and a compact projection appeared between them, showing the incoming groups, available housing, work assignments, food allocation, medical capacity, and starport berths.
"The first forty-eight hours are stable. After that, the difficulty depends on how quickly the family completes the orbital holding structure and whether the engineering teams can open the eastern station sector ahead of schedule."
Aurelian studied the projection. "Can they?"
"They believe so," Eirenne said. "Meridian disagrees with their estimate."
"That means no."
"It means she believes they are optimistic in a way that may become expensive."
Astercourt nodded. "Which means no."
Aurelian sighed. "Adjust the schedule based on Meridian’s estimate."
"Already done," Eirenne said.
"Then why tell me?"
"So you understand why three branch engineers are about to become unhappy."
Aurelian looked at her.
Eirenne’s expression did not change.
Astra said calmly, "They will survive disappointment."
"That is the spirit of the March," Astercourt said dryly.
Before Aurelian could answer, his terminal chimed with a secure message from Cassian. He opened it and saw a formal invitation to another conference aboard the Black Crown this time, not Cassian’s flagship.
That alone told him the subject had changed. Cassian wanted the next discussion to center on Aurelian’s territory, not the family’s expedition command.
Aurelian accepted and sent the meeting location.
An hour later, the Black Crown’s senior briefing room held Cassian, Orvain, several family elders, Eirenne’s projection, Astercourt, Neris, Meridian, Elowen, Astra, and a handful of selected officers connected to the support wave.
Rhoswen was not invited at first, but she appeared anyway through a tactical display from orbit, claiming that since future wars might be discussed, excluding her would be "strategically rude."
Aurelian allowed it because arguing would waste more time.
Cassian began without ceremony.
"The first movement is in place. The next matter is the contribution, reward, and development structure. If we do not settle this early, March will be buried under branch expectations before it is ready."
Nobody disagreed.
The earlier meeting had already divided future expansion rights broadly, but that was only one part of the matter.
The Arcturus family was about to invest people, ships, materials, specialists, soldiers, and political cover into the Crownward March.
At the same time, the March already had things the family wanted, including secure access to the region, local infrastructure, recovered technology, production lines, Helion Bastion Twelve, and the stargate blueprint.
If the balance was not handled properly, resentment would grow.
Cassian clearly intended to prevent that before it began.
"The March will remain under Aurelian’s authority," he said. "Family branches operating here will receive assigned rights according to contribution, but they will not create separate territories inside the March without approval. Future worlds taken or developed under family campaign structure will follow a shared model."
He activated the table projection.
Numbers appeared.
Aurelian looked at them and immediately understood the general shape. The Arcturus family would not hand every conquered or developed world to individual branches.
That would be foolish. If every branch carved off its own piece, the region would become divided before it had fully formed.
Instead, most future holdings would be kept under Crownward March administration, with branches receiving shares of net output, development rights, industrial leases, settlement charters, and merit allocations based on contribution.
One elder explained it plainly.
"For the first major expansion phase, seventy percent of newly secured strategic holdings will remain under March central administration. 20% can be designated as branch development zones or long-term leases. Ten percent will be reserved for special rewards, direct merit grants, and priority claims approved by the family head and the March commander."
Orvain nodded. "That should prevent the region from becoming a patchwork."
Astercourt looked at the numbers as if deciding whether they were annoying or merely survivable.
Aurelian asked, "And resource output?"
Cassian answered this himself. "For holdings directly administered by the March, net output after local maintenance and security costs will be divided into four directions. A fixed share remains in the March treasury for development. A share goes to the Arcturus family treasury as return on support. A share is distributed among participating branches in proportion to their contributions. A personal discovery share will be assigned to you."
Aurelian frowned slightly. "Personal?"
"Yes."
"I don’t need a personal share from every future mine."
